Step-covering for stairways



No. 617,208. Patanted Ian. 3, I899. D. WALKER. STEP COVERING FOR STAIRWAYS.

(Application filed Nov. 20, 1897'.)

(No Model.)

w 1 wil @IN WI )g/(VITNESSES': INVENTOR? .K. 7W W nubfii fiii 45.40292? 7 BY W 1 ATTORNEYS wire TATES ArnNr DAVID VALKER; OF NEWARK, NEXV JERSEY.

STEP-COVERING FOR STAIRWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,208, dated January 3, 1899.

Application filed November 20, 1897. Serial No, 659,244. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

.Be it known that I, DAVID WALKER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New J ersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Step-Coverings for Stairways; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accom panying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of step covers or coverings for stairways represented by the covering shown in my prior patent, No. 564,730, granted July 28, 1896, in'which the flexible covering of textile fabric is provided on its under side with resilient metallic strips adapted to be caught at their opposite ends upon suitable fasteners applied to the steps. In said prior patent the coverings were separate pieces applied to the steps independently. In the present construction I provide a continuous piece of textile fabric which extends from the bottom to the top of the stairway, or at least over several steps,without a break in the continuity of said covering, thus enabling the steps or risers to be more completely hidden from view; and the objects of the invention are more particularly to enable the said continuously-extended covering to be securely and smoothly fastened to the stairway without presenting to view any fastening means, to enable the covering to be removed from said stairway with greater facility and ease and quickly and easily applied to the same, and to secure other advantages and results, some of which may be referred to hereinafter in connection with the description of the working parts.

The invention consists in the improved stepcovering for stairways and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth, and finally embraced in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several views,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a stairway to which my improved covering has been applied. Fig. 2 is a reverse plan of a portion of the covering detached. 7 Fig. 3 is a section of the same on line 00, 2. Fig. 4 is a side view of a certain resilient rod adapted to enter a pocket on the under side of the covering and hold said covering in place. Fig. 5 is an edge view of the same, and Fig. 6 presents detail perspective views of the screws to be inserted in the stairs and engaged by the ends of the rods.

In said drawings, a a indicate the treads, and b l) the risers, of the steps composing the stairway 0. The usual string-piece is indicated by d, and 6 represents the textile stepcovering applied to the steps and covering both treads and risers. On the under surface of this covering 6 are transverse pockets 6, which are formed by securing strips f of webbing or other suitable textile material to the covering by lines of stitching 9 near the opposite longitudinal edges of said strip, sufficient crosswise or transverse fullness having previously been given to said strip to form a longitudinal pocket or space between said strip f and covering e. Each pocket receives a rod h of strap-like metel and of a length somewhat less than the width of the carpet.

At each of its ends said rod has a slot 2' extending in from the extremity and coinciding with or parallel to the axial line of said rod. These pockets containing the rods are arranged in a series along the under surface of the covering and at such distances apart that when said covering is fitted to the stairway a rod will lie fiat on each tread, with its rear edge adjacent to the riser next above.

To secure the rods to the stairway, an ordinary round-headed screw j is inserted in the tread at one end of the rod and at the other end a hooked screw 70, both said screws being placed to enter the end slots in a manner to be hereinafter more fully described. The rods are preferably of resilient metal and are normally curved, as shown in Figs. 4c and 5.

In fastening the covering on the stairs, the rod being in the pocket and its convex side down or toward the tread of the step, one end of said rod is thrust under the head of the or dinary screw j, so that the shank of the screw enters the slot 2'. The opposite end of the rod is then pressed downward into contact With the tread, and the slot therein receives the hooked screw it, which has its laterally-projecting head 70 in alinement with the said slot. The hooked screw 70 is then given a quarter-turn, and the projection 71') engages the rod h and holds it in place. \Vhen all the rods are secured in this Way, the covering is held firmly in place, but at any time can be removed by turning each of the hooked screws through a quarter-revolution.

To facilitate the engagement of the slotted ends of the rod with the screws, the ends of the strip f, forming the pocket, may be correspondingly slotted, as at m, or the pocket may be shorter than the rod, so that the end of the same protrudes beyond said pocket, but not to the edge of the carpet, as at 12.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is- 1. A stair carpet or covering comprising a long piece of textile fabric adapted to stretch from step to step and cover the same and a series of transverse pockets permanently formed at the back of said fabric intermediate of the ends, said transverse pockets being uniformly separate and apart from one another and adapted to receive fasteningstrips, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a long textile covering for a stairway, of a longitudinal series of transverse pockets, permanently fastened to the back of said carpet at uniform distances apart, to receive the fastening-rods, the said pockets comprising strips of textile webbing sewed longitudinally at their opposite edges uponthe said carpet, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a stair-carpet of transverse webs independent of the carpet,

sewed at their opposite longitudinal edges to said carpet, a fullness being formed between the lines of. stitching to provide pockets to receive fiat, strap-like rods of metal, and said fiat strap-like rods of metal arranged in said pockets and having means to receive cooperating fasteners, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day of November, 1897.

DAVID WALKER. \Vitnesses:

R. M, EVERETT, O. B. PITNEY. 

